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Tag Archives: Norway

The “world’s ugliest woman” has finally been laid to rest, 153 years after her death.

Julia Pastrana was deemed the “world’s ugliest woman” due to a genetic condition that covered her face in thick hair. Her husband/manager, Theodore Lent, was quoted as describing her as the “link between mankind and the ourang-outang,” and often referred to her as the “bear woman.”

Pastrana died in 1890, at the age of 26, in childbirth. Her hair-covered son also died.

After her death, Lent continued to carry her embalmed body to audiences throughout Europe for a decade. He also later married a bearded woman, who he dubbed Pastrana’s sister. She performed alongside her body.

In 1976, Pastrana’s remains were stolen from a warehouse in Norway, but were later found in the garbage. Her remains spend decades in storage at the University of Oslo, before she was finally taken back to Mexican soil on Feb. 12, thanks to a campaign by Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata, launched in 2005 to bring Pastrana home.

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has been found sane and sentenced to 21 years in jail by a Norwegian court.

Last year Breivik was arrested for killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp. Breivik admitted to the killings, but refused to plead guilty and claimed he was sane.

He has told the court he will not appeal, and said that his attacks were necessary to stop the “Islamization” of Norway.

Prosecutors had wanted Breivik to be considered insane to earn a longer sentence.

Instead, Breivik was convicted of terrorism and premeditated murder and was given Norway’s maximum sentence of 21 years in jail. The minimum length of time that he must serve is at 10 years.

However, his sentence can be prolonged later, if he is deemed to still be a danger to society.

Anders Breivik, who massacred 77 people in Norway last July, said on Monday during his trial that he had hoped he could kill more. His original plan was to massacre as many as 150 people in protest of Muslims immigrating to Europe.

Breivik first attacked a car with a bomb near government headquarters in Oslo, Norway, before shooting more people at a Labour Party island camp only hours later. The victims at the camp were all mostly teenagers.

During his testimony on the stand, Breivik has also said that his victims were “traitors”, and has denied any guilt for his crime. According to Breivik, he spared one young boy and a Labour Party activist because he “appeared right-wing.”

“To all of those…I want to say I am deeply sorry for what happened. But what happened, happened,” Breivik told the courts.

The shooter’s trial is expected to last for the next 10 weeks, and he could face up to 21 years in prison with indefinite extensions if he is still considered dangerous.

Anders Behring Breivik, the anti-Muslim extremist who confessed to the bomb and shooting attacks that killed 77 people in Norway in July, has had his custody stay extended by 12 weeks by a Norwegian court.

Despite having his custody prolonged to Feb. 6, the Oslo District Court voted to gradually lift the restriction of media access, visitors, and mail for the 32-year-old Breivik.

The Norwegian right-wing extremist tried to declare himself a resistance movement leader on Monday, Nov. 14, at his first public court hearing, but he was cut off by the judge. At the end of the hearing, Breivik asked Judge Torkjel Neshein if he could speak to the survivors and victim’s relatives, but he was rejected.

All prior proceedings before this have been private, but the judge lifted the ban on reporting the trial.

Breivik has confessed to the crimes, but is pleading not guilty to terror charges. He is adamant that he belongs to a group of crusaders who want to prevent Europe from being taken over by Muslim immigrants. Investigators however say they have found no such evidence to support his claims.

On July 22, Breivik set off a fertilizer bomb outside government headquarters, which killed eight people. He then disguised himself as a police officer and opened fire on the panicked youth on Utoya island. Sixty-nine people were killed before he surrendered to a SWAT team.